848–855

The Gottschalk Controversy over Double Predestination

One of the sharpest theological controversies of the Carolingian era broke out between the monk Gottschalk of Orbais and his opponents, Rabanus (Hrabanus) Maurus and Hincmar of Reims. Drawing on Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory, Prosper and Fulgentius, Gottschalk taught that God predestined the angels and the elect to salvation and the demons and the reprobate to damnation; free will is so corrupted that it is incapable of good, and Christ died only for the elect. His opponents accused him of making God the author of sin; in 848 at Mainz he was condemned, flogged and imprisoned for life. Prudentius, Ratramnus and Remigius defended his teaching; the synod of Quierzy (853) expressed the views of his opponents, the synod of Valence (855) those of his defenders.